Reviewing my 2018 New Years Resolutions

I’m still not sure how we reached the end of 2018 so quickly: it seems like only a few days ago I was considering my new years resolutions. 2018 has been a great year for figuring out what works for me when it comes to setting goals for myself.

The most important thing that I think really helped keep my motivation up, was not chastising myself when I don’t meet my goals every month: as someone who has a tendency to overcommit and therefore underachieve, focusing on the things I did get done helped me face my new goals with positivity.

How did I do?

To help keep to my new years resolutions, I broke down my 2018 goals into monthly tasks over the year, and reviewed my progress with them at the end of each month. And now we’re at the end of the year, I’m going to review them altogether!

Key:⬥ completed⬗ almost!⬦ just nope

⬥ WRITING: To finish my current writing project

Although I don’t see my writing project as “finished” (and perhaps never will!), I managed to write around 52k words of a story that is surprisingly coherent.

⬥ FRIENDS: To catch up with my friends more often than I currently do

It’s very easy to let life sweep you away, but having this as a goal made me more conscious of keeping in contact with friends, both nearby and long distance.

⬥ EXERCISE: To keep up twice a week gym sessions, and to try a kickboxing class

I tried kickboxing in August, and continued all the way until mid way through December! I loved it, and am so glad I tried it as it’s a completely different exercise to what I was used to. Looking at my online gym account, I averaged out at having gone to the gym once a week too, so I’ve surprisingly crossed this one off!

⬗ DIET: To limit the sugary treats I eat, and to make healthy batch meals that aren’t carb heavy that I can heat up over a week

This is a difficult one to judge: one month I’ll be really well behaved, then I’ll fall off the wagon again! I reigned myself in over December though (a month of overindulgence for my family), so I think I can half tick this?

⬥ BEAUTY: To get my teeth straightened up again

This has been a while in the making! My teeth have been a little stubborn, so there is still some misalignment, which meant I need to wear new ones for longer to get my teeth over the last hurdle. I cannot wait to see them finished now!

⬗ FINANCES: To save at least £500 a month

I had a feeling I might not reach this goal, as I had plans to go out a bit more and travel more, which all meant spending a bit more than I usually do! While I have no regrets about this, because I feel like the spend has been worth it. I’m half ticking this because on average, I saved around £416 a month, so not under by too much.

⬥ CAREER: To brush up on Ruby and learn NodeJS to the point where I can build a nice, simple app in both, and to keep attending interesting tech events

I feel like I did a lot of work in this area, although not all of them were in my resolutions! I built a few small apps in Ruby on Rails and am currently in the process of building another app in NodeJS. I unfortunately didn’t attend as many events as I planned to, probably around 3 or 4 in the end… But I think I made up for this with a few extracurricular activities: I familiarised myself with PHP again, started building projects with Angular 4 and WordPress, and updated my portfolio site!

⬥ ORGANISATION: To stop hoarding and have a huge clear out to declutter my things

I think I must have visited a different charity near my flat at least once a month, and in the process gave away so many clothes, books, trinkets, shoes… Everything I knew I didn’t need. I’m so pleased with how proactive I was with my clutter this year. Let’s hope it sticks for 2019!

⬥ TRAVEL: To visit two foreign places I’ve not been to before, and also a place in the UK I’ve never been to either

I got to visit so many beautiful places outside of London this year, that I’d never been to before: Reykjavik, Dublin, Verona, Budapest, Copenhagen, and Malmo, Bristol, and Cardiff. I hope to have a few more adventures next year too, but since I spent a lot on travel this year, I may need to think on that.

This was a rather vague goal when I think about it! I finished all the Italian modules in the Duolingo app, and on reading Italian articles online, my comprehension skills are noticeably better than at the start of the year! I’ve recorded myself playing guitar over the course of the year, and listening back on them I can hear an improvement in my playing: I’m lot less clumsy, and everything I play is clearer, faster, and more precise. I’m proud of my progress with both of these!

What’s my score? 9/10

To say I’m shocked is putting it mildly! My track record with new years resolutions has been shaky over the years: some years I’ll nail them, others… Not so much. But 2018 is the first year I set myself goals for various areas in my life, and I surprisingly managed to keep on top of them.

Setting monthly goals kept me focused on my resolutions throughout the year, and while there are a couple I didn’t fully tick off, I’ve come out of 2018 having managed to change my goal tracking habits for the better: a skill I hope to utilise and improve on in 2019!